On 12 August Corruption Watch will launch its latest research report into mining royalties. Titled Improving Transparency and Accountability in the Flow of Benefits to Mining Communities, the report aims to understand how best to intervene in shaping the financial and legal mechanisms used to funnel benefits to mining-affected communities.
In recent years the illegal perlemoen trade has overlapped with the increased flow of drugs such as methamphetamine (tik) and methaqualone (white pipe) into and methamphetamine to South Africa, with the former commodity being traded for the latter. Corruption plays a part in this, as does lax policing, poor regulation, and a huge demand for the marine delicacy from the Far East.
Corruption Watch has submitted comments on the Firearms Control Amendment Bill 2020, focusing on four issues: firearm ownership for self-defence, accountability in relation to firearm ownership, accountability of police and official institutions, and the Firearms Appeal Board. However, we cautioned that legislative amendments alone will not be effective in reducing violent crime, if we continue to have a weak, infiltrated, and ineffective policing service.
The Coalition on Party Funding, launched on 3 August 2021, comprises civil society organisations and activists, and is supported by the work of journalists. It aims to deepen democracy and hold leaders of political parties to account, with an initial focus on ensuring that the new Political Party Funding Act is implemented effectively and does what it purports. The coalition will also support the Independent Electoral Commission in its mandate to administer the PPFA, ensuring that the commission is adequately capacitated.
The KwaMhlanga Poultry Project, meant to benefit emerging farmers in the same way the ill-fated Vrede Dairy Project would have, is in tatters. Among other complaints, a group of people who did not qualify for inclusion but benefited because of their political influence and connections, have hijacked the project and ruined its prospects.
A mix of high unemployment, poverty and corruption exacerbated the suffering of vulnerable populations during lockdowns across Africa, write Linus Unah, Sally Hayden, Maurice Oniang’o and Patrick Egwu for
ished on Journalists for Transparency
In part 3 of our corruption in wildlife crime series, we discuss the convergence of wildlife crime and other crime, such as money laundering, drug or human trafficking, or fraud. Experts agree that to be effective, measures must include enhanced international co-operation, the involvement of all relevant enforcement agencies, the recognition of wildlife crime as a type of organised crime, and corruption and financial investigations to help recover the ill-gotten proceeds.
Corruption Watch has made a written submission on the Land Court bill of 2021, The organisation has focused on several vulnerabilities in the bill’s provisions, including no effective mechanisms that reduce the scope for corruption, and unclear indications as to how it will address existing systemic hurdles that make it difficult for land claimants to obtain land restitution. Download our submission for the full details.
Following up on its statement released in October 2020, the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture again calls for law enforcement agencies to focus their attention on individuals and corporations who have either allegedly been complicit in state capture or might have information that can assist the state in challenging the state capture networks. The group has supplied a comprehensive list of such entities.
Visit our GivenGain R20 for Change page and help us demand transparency in our systems, accountability in our leaders, and better empowerment and protection of whistle-blowers. By donating R20 a month, you’ll be supporting our work with communities across the country, helping them to know and access their rights and reduce the corruption that robs people of resources intended for their benefit.